


Tales of the Northern Air Temple

by OurImpavidHeroine



Series: The Restoration of the Northern Air Temple or: How Ikki Became the Leader She Was Always Meant to Be [3]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Multi, One Shot Collection, Post-Canon, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 23:06:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8304697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OurImpavidHeroine/pseuds/OurImpavidHeroine
Summary: A collection of one-shot stories that revolve around the rebuilding of the Northern Air Temple: Part of my post-series and post-canon Wuko universe.No rhyme or reason to them; sometimes they just come to me, sometimes people request them, sometimes they are scenes that don't make it through cuts. I'll just post them as I write them!These one-shots will be kept in chronological order.





	1. A Modest Enhancement: Like A Bird In Flight

**Author's Note:**

> (Some of these drabbles were already posted in my [Bits and Pieces; Dribs and Drabs](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4068133/chapters/9157390) collection and have been moved here for ease of reading.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set in the middle of Chapter One of Ten Years After The Fall.
> 
> Ikki, Huan and Blueberry Spicehead leave Zaofu together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something I wrote for Keelan, who doesn't like flying either.

“You just climb aboard her. Just grab ahold of her and pull yourself up, you won’t hurt her, don’t worry.” Ikki demonstrated, grabbing a handful of Blueberry Spicehead’s coarse fur, jabbing her toes into the air bison’s side and grasping tightly at her pelt, hauling herself up.

Blue looked supremely uninterested in this assault on her flank.

“Or I can just bend you up, give you a little boost.” At Huan’s sharp look, Ikki dropped down to the ground and put her hands up. “I do it for my mother all the time, I won’t drop you, I swear.”

Huan crossed his hands over his chest, his packs on the ground in front of him. He stared at the ground, face turning impassive once again.

“This isn’t your first time on an air bison, right? I know you’ve been up on Juicy.”

He jerked his chin in an approximation of a nod.

“Well, everything went okay with that, right? How did you get up on Juicy?”

“Grandma bent Dad and me into the saddle,” mumbled Huan, still staring at the ground.

“Oh, of course! You could easily bend yourself up, silly of me. I’m not used to dealing with earthbenders, Bolin was usually the only one around. Well, and Korra, of course. Now that I think of it, Bolin usually just gave himself a little boost off of the ground when he wanted to get aboard Oogi.” Ikki grabbed the first of his packs and tossed it up into the air, a flick of her fingers curving it slightly into Blue’s saddle.

Huan watched the trajectory of his pack and gritted his teeth. Ikki stopped in mid-reach for the next bag.

“Oh Spirits, Huan, I should have asked! There wasn’t anything breakable in that, was there?” Ikki looked anxiously up towards the saddle.

Huan shook his head. “Nothing breakable.” He dropped his gaze back down at the wild grass, already brown with autumn’s accession. They stood there for a moment, both of them silent. Blue yawned hugely, whuffling a faintly hot and moist breath that teased at the ends of Huan’s hair.

“I’m…I don’t really know what to say,” Ikki said, frowning. “Is it that you’ve changed your mind? You don’t want to go? If that’s the case, please just tell me.”

Huan shook his head, eyes still on the ground. “I want to go.”

“Oooooookay? Then the hold up is…?” Ikki looked past him at Zaofu, the city’s restored lotus petals still closed and gleaming in the rose-gold light of dawn. They were perhaps a mile or so outside the city limits. She wasn’t sure how Huan had managed to sneak out to the meadow where he had told her to meet him. “We aren’t doing anything illegal, you know. You were the one who said you wanted to meet out here instead of at the airfield.”

“I don’t want my mother showing up and making a scene,” he said, digging his toe into the dirt. “Because she would. And it makes me uncomfortable.”

“Well, why do you think I left in the night? My father would have pitched a fit. He probably would have woken your mother up with it all the way down here.”

Huan smiled, just slightly. “Happy birthday, by the way.” He risked a glance up at her through his hair.

“Well, thank you,” she said, and grinned, bowing. “I’m ever so mature now.”

“I don’t like flying,” he responded, eyes sliding away from her. “I don’t like being in the air. My feet…” here he struggled, and his hands slid loose of their death grip on his ribs to move in front of him in the way that Ikki, after all the years of talking to him in the Spirit World, recognized as his way of grasping at the words that so often eluded him, “…need to feel rock because otherwise my head says unsafe unsafe and then I start to feel…” his hands fluttered against his belly, and he grimaced.

“You get sick? You mean you get motion sickness?”

He nodded. “Also, the fear makes my breathing stop start stop start stop.”

Ikki thought about this for a moment. “So it’s both things? You’re afraid of flying and you get motion sickness?”

He nodded miserably.

“Hmmm,” she said, and she rocked back and forth on her toes, the hood of the light poncho she was wearing slipping down to reveal the vivid blue of the brand new tattoo on her nearly bald scalp. “Does anything help the sickness?”

“Sour things,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a striped muslin bag. “Sour plum balls. My mother used to give them to me.”

Ikki wrinkled up her nose. “Ugh, I can’t stand those things. Candy my ass, candy is supposed to be sweet, not shrivel your tongue off. But they help your stomach?”

“Yes.”

“Well we can get more of those as we go. And Huan, if you start to feel sick just tell me and we can land until your stomach feels better. I mean, we’re not in a hurry, right? We don’t have anywhere to be, we’re not on any kind of schedule. Blue can land, you can sit on the ground for awhile, let your stomach ease up. Would that help?”

He glanced at her, making eye contact, and smiled; an electrifying grin that showed actual teeth. A rarity for Huan. “Yes. That would help.”

She smiled back. “Okay, then. I don’t know what to say about the fear, though. Are you afraid you will fall out of the saddle? You’re the metalbender, you can secure yourself with a cable if you are that nervous, right?”

“Yes.”

“But I know that probably won’t help much either. Fear doesn’t really work that way, does it? Me, I’m afraid of closed-in spaces. Like caves?” She shuddered. “Hate them. The rock will fall on my head and crush me. That’s what it feels like, every single second.”

“I would  _never_  let a rock fall on your head.” His tone was fiercer than she had ever heard it.

Ikki tilted her chin up at him. “And I would never let the wind snatch you away from me.  _Never_.” She brought her hands up and gathered wind in between them. “Blue would never let you fall, either. Never. Isn’t that right, Blue? We’d never let Huan fall.” She balanced a gentle breeze in her hands and then sent it, as delicate as feathers, to brush along his cheek. His eyes closed.

Blue groaned out her agreement and leaned forward to snuffle at Huan’s head. His eyes flew open and he froze as she sniffed him all over. Once she’d taken his measure - which included another whuff of breath that caused him to wrinkle his entire face and slam his eyes shut - she settled back, huffing.

“There now. Safe as houses. Blue is, naturally, the best air bison in the entire world. Think, Huan, she waited for me for years until I was able to go back and get her, from the time she was a calf. If that’s not a steady girl, then I don’t know who is.” Ikki leaned over to thump her affectionately. “Would you like to learn how to fly her?”

Huan blinked. “You mean with my hands?” He held them out, bag of sour plum balls still clutched in his fingers.

Ikki grinned. “With your two very talented hands. Sure! Why not? Nothing saying you couldn’t. Besides, it would be a good thing if you learned. That way if I need to take a break you can take over.”

Huan stepped backwards so that he could look straight at Blue. “May I learn to fly you?” he asked gravely.

Blueberry bellowed and thrust herself forward to nudge him with her nose, causing him to stagger backwards in order to keep himself upright.

“That’s an air bison yes, in case you were wondering.” Ikki was grinning. “She likes you. I’m not just saying that, either. It’s not everyone that will ask an air bison’s permission. They are far more intelligent than people realize.”

Blueberry huffed her agreement.

“Okay. We can go up now,” he said, and the earth moved effortlessly upwards, easily depositing him and the two remaining bags into the saddle. The outcropping smoothed itself down the moment he stepped off of it. Ikki launched herself into the saddle and showed him how to secure his packs with the ropes that were already around her own packs along the back of the saddle. Huan sat down and slid his boots off, revealing bare feet. Ikki raised an eyebrow.

“Need to feel,” he explained, pressing his feet into the leather of the saddle, and she nodded. He secured his boots as well. She was afraid his feet would get cold, but she supposed he was a big boy; he’d put his boots back on if he wanted to. 

“Works for me.” She lightly jumped over the edge of the saddle to drift gently into the curve of Blue’s neck where the reins were waiting. A moment later she felt him settle behind her, and she half-turned in surprise.

“Am I too heavy?”

“What, for Blueberry? Not on your life.” She grinned. “Did you want to learn how to steer now?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. But it’s better here. Safer.” He frowned. “Can I stay? Will it be a bother?”

She reached back and shoved at his legs, moving him until his legs curved around hers, his chest nearly touching her back. His bare feet dangled out past her own feet, covered with the boots of her wingsuit. “Just hold on to me if you need to, okay? And uh, just as a suggestion, I’d braid that hair back. You don’t want to deal with the tangles later, trust me.”

He said nothing but shoved the bag of candy back into his pocket, quickly braiding his hair back tightly, securing it with a bit of metal that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Once he had finished she nodded, turning back around to take the reins into her hands. “Yip yip, Blue!” she called, slapping her with the reins. Blue responded with a joyful grunt and launched herself smoothly into the air. Huan clutched at her waist, burying his head into her shoulder. “You okay?” She asked, and felt his nod. “Just let me know when we need to stop and we’ll stop. Just whenever.”

“Goodbye, Zaofu,” he murmured into her ear as the city grew smaller beneath them, and the wind picked up. Her hood was still down around her neck and she shivered her delight in feeling the air across her scalp.

“Hello, world,” she shouted into the sky, and felt his hands tighten around her waist in response.


	2. A Fragrant Offering: A Gift For Ikki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huan gives Ikki a gift.
> 
> This takes place the autumn before A Song of Spring and Autumn and nearly two years before I Do Not Ask the Night for Explanations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A gift for Marezelle, on her birthday. Thank you, my dearest darling, for all of your thoughtful, encouraging and truly lovely commentary. Yours is a bright star in the velvet sky, indeed.

"Wake up."

Ikki blinked her eyes open, squinting in the gloom at the face hovering over hers. "Nuh huh." She tried to roll over again but Huan moved and straddled her hips, pinning her in place in the bedroll. "Oh, come on." She shut her eyes and faked a large snore.

"You have to wake up." His voice was insistent. She knew that voice. That voice meant that he wouldn't stop bothering her until she did whatever it was he wanted this time. Huan, when he set his mind on something, was the most intractable man on earth. She opened her eyes again and glared up at him, which was wasted, of course. For one, Huan never cared about that sort of thing. For another, there was only a single lantern lit inside their tent and it wasn't shedding much in the way of light.

"Why?" It came out a little more pathetic than she had meant it to.

"I have to take you somewhere."

"Okay. But how about we do it later, what do you say?"

"No, now."

"Huan!" She struggled to sit up, and he moved backwards to allow her. "It's not even light out yet. Can't it wait?"

"No." He was already dressed, hair swept back into its usual quick twist atop his head with his silver hairsticks. "I made you some tea. Hurry up and get ready."

"Ready for what, exactly?" She kicked at him from her bedroll and he moved, pulling himself up to pour some tea from their copper kettle into one of the battered tin cups.

"For what I have to show you."

She sighed, loudly, and stuck her tongue out at his back. "How long have you been awake?" She shifted herself up with a dramatic groan.

"Long enough to make a fire and some tea. There's some breakfast, too. But you have to hurry up and eat it. Or we can take it with us."

She stopped in the midst of pulling off the old worn tunic of his that she used to sleep in. "Wait wait wait. What is this _with us_ business? Are we supposed to get going? Are we leaving?"

"No, we don't have to leave. Just go somewhere this morning. Blue can stay here." He frowned at her. "Hurry up! You're too slow!"

She leaned forward into the circle of illumination from the lantern to scowl at him. "Do you see this face? This is my _Ikki has been woken up far too early and isn't happy about it_ face."

"That just looks like all of your annoyed faces. Hurry up." He waved the cup at her impatiently.

She yanked off the tunic, automatically bending to ward away the slight chill in the air. Autumn was upon them, and the nights were starting to get cold. She'd manage, but they'd need to head south fairly soon if they didn't want Huan to freeze. Their tent wasn't meant to withstand late autumn, never mind winter. They'd talked about going to explore the southeastern countries of the former Earth Kingdom, but as much as she'd like to ignore the political situation in the world there was just no way she could pretend that things were stable there. They weren't; there was a lot of guerrilla-type fighting going on and it wouldn't be safe for them. The last time they'd visited Republic City she'd said something about it when they were having dinner with Mako and Wu and Wu had made Huan promise they wouldn't go anywhere near them. She knew better than to even suggest it, Huan would never go back on a promise he'd made to Wu. Not to mention she was fairly certain that if Korra caught wind of it she'd find them, wherever they were, and kick her ass up and down for even attempting it. As she pulled on her wingsuit she frowned, thinking. "What about the Foggy Swamp?"

"What about it?" Huan had her bracelets hooked over two of his fingers and she took them back and fastened them over her wrists before taking the cup from his other hand and swallowing a large gulp of tea.

"We could head down there next. It stays warm down there. It's getting cold up here." She downed the rest of the tea and grabbed her brush to run it quickly through her hair.

"Okay. Maybe. We can talk about it later. Not now, though. Now we have to go. We're going to be late."

"Late for what?" He didn't answer her, though, just took a cold rice ball and pressed it into her hand. 

"Come on," he said, and opened up the flap of the tent, pointing her outside before dousing the flame in the lantern. She could see he'd already banked their campfire. "Blue, we're going somewhere but we'll be back later, don't worry." Blue opened one eye and whuffed gently before letting it slide shut again. Well. Blue at least got to sleep in. Lucky, lucky Blue. "You can eat as we go." He reached an arm out and wrapped it around her waist. "I'll take us."

She crammed the rice ball into her mouth before leaning back against him and putting her feet on top of his bare feet. He wrapped his other arm around her and began to bend, the ground skimming past effortlessly beneath them. She wasn't worried; it was still dark out but Huan was always sure of himself once he had his feet on the ground. He didn't need to see to bend. She'd only met his grandmother for such a short time, but she remembered her clearly; her dirty toes pressed into the rock of her cave, sightless eyes always turned in just the slightly wrong direction. It was Toph who had taught Huan to bend, and like his grandmother he relied on what he was sensing throughout his body to shift the earth around him. She closed her own eyes and let her head rest against his cheek, the wind stirred up by their rapid movement pushing her hair back into him. She knew he didn't want her, not the way she wanted him, but when he held her like this she could pretend that his arms were wrapped around her with desire, not just to keep hold of her so she wouldn't fall.

"Almost there," he said into her ear, and she fought back the disappointment that she'd be leaving his embrace so soon. She remembered the rice in her mouth and automatically chewed, telling herself, once again, that she wasn't going to cry over this. She wouldn't cry. They were friends and they loved each other. It had to be enough.

Huan brought them to a gentle stop and she slid herself off of his feet. His arms lingered around her waist for a moment before pulling away. "The sun will come up soon," he said, and she looked towards the sky. It was already lightening, a murky gloom compared to the velvet black back at camp. 

"Are you cold?" she asked, and felt rather than saw him shrug.

"It's okay," he said. He didn't move away from her and she risked inching herself a little closer. He remained where he was, so she moved a bit more until her hip pressed slightly into him.

"Are we going to be here forever?" she asked and was rewarded with a little huff of amusement.

"Impatient Ikki. Just a little longer."

"This better be good," she warned, and was startled by his finger pressing gently against her lips.

"Shh," he breathed. "It's coming now." He left his finger there as the first streak of rose shot across the sky, followed by shades of lighter pink and orange. Dawn was was flying towards them; she tilted her head slightly as birdsong began to warble through the trees, grinning to hear them wake and start their own busy day. Huan's hand slipped down from her mouth to wrap around her shoulder and pull her closer and she relished the feel of him, thin and corded with muscle, so solid and alive as she let her body mold slightly into his. They watched together as the sky filled with color, the sun threatening to peek above the horizon at any given moment. Just as the first sliver of it trembled above the trees, Huan spun her around. "Now!" he said and she sucked in a deep gasp.

The first rays of the sun spilled out across the glade in front of them, beaming light through the trees and dissipating the early morning mist. Gold bathed an entire sea of wild roses, their nearly translucent color gilded bright as the sun continued to rise over the trees. Ikki brought both of her hands to her mouth, her eyes filling up with tears.

"Huan. Oh, Huan." She reached out one joyful hand. "It's so beautiful. Oh." He took her outstretched hand in his and led her into a natural break in the bushes, the burgeoning dawn sunlight burnishing the cinnamon highlights in his black hair. She unconsciously bent the slightly spicy fragrance that hung in the air around them both and felt his fingers in her own hair, tucking a bloom behind her ear. She plucked it out to examine it; the full blossom shaded from a warm cream into a very pale pink at the edges, petals unfurling with droplets of morning dew.

"They won't last when the frost comes," he said, and those long brown fingers wrapped around her hands to bring the rose closer to her nose. She sniffed at it and a little sigh of pleasure escaped her.

"How did you find this?" she asked, looking around the glade, and she heard the smile in his voice.

"I was looking for firewood and I got distracted. Do you like it?" He took the blossom out of her hands and tucked it back into her hair.

"Like it?" She turned to meet his eyes. "Oh, Huan, I love it. I don't think I have ever seen anything so gorgeous in my life." She moved herself a little further into the glade, fingers trailing softly across the blossoms, smiling.

The birds continued to sing as she made her way through the glade, careful not to snag her wingsuit on any thorns. As the mist burned off she observed a spider, busy at her web; a little further in and a field mouse scuttled its quick way back to its home. She startled a jackalope and it hopped quickly away into the forest area, followed by her laughter. At some point Huan had sat cross-legged on the ground and he was watching her explore with a slight smile, his body still in a way that was rare for him, relaxed and at peace. Ignoring a few prickly scratches she picked enough roses to make the two of them flower crowns, and she got one of his real smiles, the kind that showed his teeth, when she placed his upon his head before throwing herself onto the damp grass next to him.

"I'm so glad you brought me. Thank you, Huan. Thank you so much." She rolled over onto her back to smile up at him. He smiled back.

"Happy birthday, Ikki."

Her eyes widened. "Is it? Wait! Today?"

That got her a little laugh. "Yes. Today. You are twenty-one today. I didn't forget." He tapped the side of his head. "Happy birthday to you."

She couldn't stop smiling. "This is the nicest present anyone has ever gotten me."

He ducked his head shyly, pleased. "Really? Or do you just say it to make me happy?"

She sat up and took his hands into hers. "Really and truly. You knew exactly what I would like. I'll never forget this. Never."

A sly look up from his bowed head. "Am I forgiven for waking you up, then?"

She laughed and threw her arms around him for a hug, happily surprised when he returned it. "Oh yes. All is forgiven. Am I forgiven for being so grouchy?"

"If early morning Ikki bothered me too much then I'd have gone back to Zaofu years ago." At her faux-indignant poke he chuckled, the rich sound of it making her laugh back at him.

They spent the morning there, Ikki exploring and gathering together an armful of blooms to take back with her to dry. She thought she could make a nice potpourri of them, something that would cut into Blue's usual wet fur musk. Huan mostly watched her, content to sit with that same little smile on his face. When they got back to camp she found that he'd also bought her some of the rice candy she adored, hiding it inside his pack so she wouldn't ferret it out. She ate the chewy sweetness next to their fire while he cleaned up after their dinner, singing all of her favorite songs to her and amusing her by making shapes of all the things they'd seen that day with the chunk of meteorite he always kept in his pocket. As they settled into their bedrolls she breathed in deeply the smell of the roses.

"Thank you. For such a wonderful day." She closed her eyes in the darkness.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you liked it."

"Huan?"

"Yes?"

"I'm so glad you're here with me."

A pause. "I'm glad too," he said softly. She snuggled deeper into her bedroll and smiled.


	3. An Inked Memorial: Huan Remembers His Grandmother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archiving a prompt meme from Tumblr.
> 
> Ikki and Huan: Reacting to the other one crying about something.

When Ikki finally found Huan, he was sitting alone, back up against one of the trees in the swamp, his knees to his chin, his forehead resting against them. 

“There you are! I was looking for you. Thue said they finished your tattoo today! Can I see it? Oh no wait, it’s probably bandaged up, isn’t it?”

Huan didn’t answer, just kept his forehead to his knees. Ikki slowed her approach. “Are you..is everything okay?” She stood in front of him, looking down. “Huan?”

He looked up at her, mute. His eyes were brimming over with tears, his face miserable.

“Huan!” She started to reach towards him and barely caught herself in time. He didn’t like that, didn’t like being touched when he was in any way emotional. She put her hands behind her back. “Can I…can I sit down with you?” A moment; then a small nod. She settled down carefully in front of him, her legs crossed. He wouldn’t look at her; his eyes kept shifting to the side. She knew him well enough by now to know that it wasn’t personal, however. It was just how he was when he was upset about something. “Is it…is it the tattoo? Does it hurt you or something?” A shake of his head. “Okay, that’s good. Did someone say something to upset you?” Another shake. “Can you tell me?”

He made brief eye contact before opening his mouth. Nothing came out. Another pleading look and then he shook his head again, face looking even more miserable. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

“It’s okay, it doesn’t matter. You can tell me whenever you’re ready. I’ll just sit here, is that okay?” A quick nod.

They sat there for a time, Huan crying nearly silently, Ikki just as silent. A swamp bird called; a squirrel frog hopped past, ignoring them completely. Ikki wished that Huan would really cry; that he would sob and shake, that he would wail out his anguish. He looked so despondent, a strand of his hair that had escaped his hairsticks plastered to his wet cheek. He didn’t even try to wipe the tears off of his face. But this was his way. 

Finally he put his finger to the bandage covering his tattoo and looked at her. He opened his mouth again; nothing came out. He slammed his palm against his head.

“No! Oh Huan, don’t! Please don’t. Please don’t do that. The words will come eventually. We can just sit here until then, okay? Okay?”

He looked at her desperately, pointing to his tattoo. At her look of incomprehension he shook his head and then pointed at the tattoo again before holding his hands up in that strange way he had of earthbending, the way his grandmother had taught him. Ikki suddenly sat up a little taller.

“Oh! Huan, is it your grandma? Is that it? Are you missing your grandma?”

The relief on his face, the grateful look he gave her brought tears to her eyes as well. “Oh, of course. It’s her tree, the one she’s buried under. It’s making you miss her, isn’t it? The tattoo of her tree?”

He nodded. Some of the tension left his body.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. No wonder you are feeling so sad right now. I know you loved her a lot.”

He nodded. They were quiet for a time and then, shyly, he held out his hand to her and motioned to himself. 

“Do you…do you want me to come closer?” At his nod she shuffled herself over to sit next to him. He reached out and took her hand in his.

They sat there for a time, hand in hand, while Huan grieved for his grandmother. They sat there until Ikki’s foot fell asleep and the sun started to creep down under the horizon, until the fish in the nearby inlet of water started to break the surface, snapping at insects. 

There was nowhere else in the world she wanted to be.


	4. A Frigid Immersion: Giving Blueberry Spicehead A Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archiving a prompt meme from Tumblr.
> 
> Ikki and Huan: Taking a bath together.

“Okay, let me get the reins off of her and we can send her into the lake.” At Blueberry’s excited lunging, Ikki thumped her. “Blue! Hang on two seconds, girl! Wait!”

“Blue, you have to wait.” Huan stood between the air bison and the lake, smiling. “Ikki says two seconds but it will take longer than that. Then we will give you a nice scrub and you’ll feet better.” He thought for a moment. “Or maybe not, but you’ll smell better, so at least I’ll be happier.”

Blue huffed and slurped at Huan affectionately, her tongue running up the side of his neck, face and head. Huan let out with a horrified squeak; Ikki burst into laughter.

“Oh Spirits, I can’t believe she did that to you. Blue! No kissing Huan!”

Huan’s hand went up slowly to touch the side of his face, coming away wet and slightly gooey. “Oh. _Oh_.”

Ikki sent Blue’s reins over the side of the bison’s neck. “Okay, girl! You can get in now!” With a bellow Blueberry waddled her way into the lake, Ikki easily bending off of her and landing lightly onto the beach. Blue hit the lake with a bison-sized splash, water surging up from behind to drench Huan, still standing with his hand to his face, all the way up to his chest.

Huan screamed, his eyes flaring open and his hands flapping. “COLD! OH! COLD!”

Ikki fell over, wheezing with laughter. “Oh your face! Your face! Huan, I am so sorry, she’s just so happy to go swimming.”

“I don’t like this trip now.”

“Here, I brought some towels for us.”

Huan started to shuck off his clothes. “They’re wet. I’m wet. I didn’t want to get wet. We need a firebender for fire. Or a waterbender to take away the water. Something useful.”

“Sorry, I can’t help. Although I guess I could blow the water away?”

Huan gave her a dirty look. “Off of me? No thank you.”

“Well, I did at least bring matches, I thought we could make a fire anyhow. Even if I’m not as useful as a firebender.” She tried very hard to make herself stop laughing while she dug around in the pack she’d brought. “When she’s done soaking up half the lake we can brush her. Poor Blue, it’s been ages since she had a bath.”

They both looked for a moment at Blue as she wallowed happily, diving in the water and shaking herself enthusiastically. 

“Ikki?”

“Yes?”

“Ikki, I have Blue spit on me.”

“I know you do.” She started to giggle again. “Do you want to wash it off? I brought regular soap for us just in case.”

“Ikki?”

“Yes?”

“I’m wet and I’m cold and I’m naked and I have Blue spit on me.”

“Is the lake really _that_ cold?”

Huan pointed at it, saying nothing. Ikki unzipped her wingsuit, rolling it down to her waist. She walked towards the lake, bending over to stick her hand in it. “Spirits! How it can be that cold! It’s summer!” She jumped back and started to rummage in her pack again, pulling out a box of matches.

Huan pointed at the nearest mountain. “Snow melt.”

Ikki thought for a moment. “Well, what if we just jumped in really quick, soaped up, and jumped right back out again?”

“That’s easy for you to say, you’re an airbender. You can keep warm. Earthbenders can’t keep warm. Well, except for maybe Bolin. But he’s not here and I am and I’m cold.”

“What if I promise I won’t use my bending to stay warm? I’ll just go in as cold as you are.”

Blue rolled over on her back and whuffled in ecstasy, her limbs splayed out as she floated.

“Make the fire first.”

“Get me some wood first. That’s your job, earthbender.” 

Huan stalked over to the nearest stand of trees, using slight adjustments of the earth to gather together deadfall and some broken branches. 

Ikki whistled after his naked behind. “My favorite kind of earthbending! Nude earthbending!” She giggled at the splendid example of a Beifong Death Glare he gave her over his shoulder. “Better be careful your face doesn’t freeze like that!”

“I think you’re the one that better be careful,” he grumped, carefully bending the wood down the beach her way. He broke up a few sticks for her and bent up a ring of earth around it as she built up a fire the way her uncle had taught her as a child. Once the fire was going she grinned at him and slid out of her own wingsuit. 

“Okay, on the count of three. We run into the water. I promise I won’t bend.” She held up her hand. “I’ve got the soap. Ready?” He nodded. “One…two…three!” She took off into the lake with him right behind her, both of them letting out with yelps of shock as they hit the frigid water. “Oh spirits oh spirits oh spirits,” she laughed, teeth chattering, as she quickly soaped herself down, handing the soap over to him as soon as she was done. Huan dunked himself under the water, staying under for about three seconds before shooting up with a breathless cry, fingers scrabbling the soap all over his body.

“My hair,” he managed, and Ikki yanked the soap out of his hand and scrubbed at his head. “Faster, faster,” he chanted, and she was so cold that her laughter came out in little shrieked spurts.

It was just as Ikki had finished soaping up her own hair that Blue suddenly lunged up beside them, bellowing and doing her very best air bison belly flop, dunking them both under the water and sending a wave over them. Ikki came out of the water shouting, half running and half swimming to the shore. Huan was already dragging himself out, his long hair plastered over his face and his body shaking. With icy fingers Ikki grabbed up the towels she’d brought, wrapping one around Huan first before using one on herself.

“You c..ca…can bend yourself warm,” Huan gasped out, managing to put another chunk of wood on the fire. Ikki’s only answer was to wrap herself around him, heating herself up with her breathing, letting her body heat soak into his. “I think I liked that volcano island better,” he said, and she nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck and laughed. 


	5. An Impaired Connection: Ikki Takes Ill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archiving a prompt meme from Tumblr.
> 
> Huan and Ikki: Caring for each other while ill.

“Huan, I just want to sleep, okay? Just do whatever you want.” Ikki pulled the covers back over her head. Airbenders filtered out bad air when they breathed as a matter of habit and training; however, food poisoning wasn’t anything her bending was going to help her with. After an entire night of it she was way past mere miserable.

Huan hovered near the bed, his fists clenched. “But we always have breakfast together.”

“Huan! Stop! I can’t have any breakfast! Spirits, I can’t keep anything down and I hurt too much to eat anyhow.” She knew she should drink some water but the idea of even moving was too much for her.

Huan rocked back and forth, brow furrowed. “Should I skip breakfast and wait for you?”

“Damn it! Huan! Can I just worry about myself for a change!” She sat up to shout at him and her stomach lurched and she ran feebly for the bathroom, bringing up nothing but bile. Exhausted, she lay on the floor.

“Ikki, please tell me what to do.” He’d followed her and stood in the doorway, his fingers fluttering.

Ikki started to cry, her stomach muscles screaming at her. She felt so wretched, so exhausted. “Just go away. I’m sick. I can’t help you right now.”

“Go away to where?”

She looked up at him, standing in the doorway, his face a mask of utter blankness. That was the face he made when he was about to have one of his meltdowns, she knew. It was coming, she could hear it in his rapid breathing, see it in the shaking of his hands and the way his eyes refused to lock onto anything. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t. Not right now. “Huan, please go to the kitchen and get yourself some tea and some jook. Maybe you could ask Yung if he has anything for you to do today, okay?”

He nodded quickly. “Okay. I’ll ask Yung.” He didn’t leave, however, but rather stood there, indecisively. 

“Go on, now. I’ll be fine.” She wasn’t fine, she knew, but she needed him to go before she said something she would regret. She closed her eyes as she heard him walk out. She knew he wasn’t being an ass. She knew he was worried and scared; whenever that happened he’d shut right down. He’d been doing so well up here, functioning so well, even trying new things, like attempting to cook a little and going down without her to the village. But something like this, something so small, it reminded her that Huan was not like everyone else. He depended on her so much, sometimes it frightened her. What would become of him if something happened to her? He did so well right up until the moment he didn’t. 

And who was going to take care of her if she needed it?

She wrapped her arms around her aching belly, laying on the floor, and tried not to cry.


	6. A Tumultuous Reunion: Building A Fountain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set about six months after the end of Chapter 2 of Ten Years After The Fall. There are references to Chapter 1 as well.
> 
> Baatar Junior arrives at the Northern Air Temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a birthday gift for my dear friend Jac, whose conversation, support and general loveliness have meant a great deal to me these past few months. More than she knows. Here's the bit you wanted to read, my dear. I hope you like it.

The airbender and his bison dropped him off on a large ledge. He slid down the side of the air bison - its fur was clogged with snow, and smelled just as bad as Baatar figured it might - and the airbender grinned down at him.

"There's not really a bell or anything to let them know you're here, you can just give them a shout or something. Not that they won't know you are coming, though. Huan's got that seismic thing going on, he can sense people through the rock." The airbender shook his head with another grin. "Earthbenders, right?"

"Right." This idiot didn't know the half of it, Baatar reflected.

The man pointed at an entrance carved into the side of the mountain. "Just go on through there." He jerked his thumb towards a much bigger entrance across the landing. "Blueberry - that's Ikki's bison - is over there." He squinted up into the sky. "Anyhow, storm's getting worse, so Spike and I are going to head back to our own ledge. If you need another lift down to the village have someone give me a heads up. We're on ferry duty this week, we can take you back whenever." The airbender gave his air bison a fond thump.

"Thanks," Baatar said. The word felt rusty in his mouth. Unused. The bison took off with a groan, leaving him alone on the ledge. He wrapped his arms around himself. The snow was coming down thickly and he could hardly see out of his glasses. He took them off, squinting around, trying not to shiver. If he'd thought it was cold in that spirits-forsaken village it was nothing compared to how icy it was up here on the mountain. He walked towards the smaller entrance, feet slipping a bit. He ran his fingers down the side of entrance; it undulated softly under his touch, swoops and swirls of volcanic glass. _Huan_ , he thought, and he stepped inside. Huan wasn't a builder; the sharp, precise lines that he himself had always preferred had never been something Huan had liked. Yes, he recognized Huan's organic touch in the rock.

His glasses fogged over as he put them back on; with a grunt of frustration he tugged his gloves off and opened his heavy coat to take the ends of his scarf and wipe them off. It made them temporarily worse but at least got the snow off of them before it started to melt. It was surprisingly warm inside the mountain. Baatar started to walk deeper in. He hadn't been warm in months. He'd lost weight, too. His beard looked like something a hermit would wear, or at least it had the last time he'd gotten a good look at himself. He avoided mirrors for the most part, though. He wasn't fond of looking at himself. On any level.

"You know either way works for me." A woman's voice. Light and warm, with an undercurrent of laughter. It must be Ikki, Tenzin's daughter. He'd never met her, never even seen her, short of a photograph Opal had shown him some months back. She'd grown into a stunning woman, that much he remembered from the photo. Tall. Had her airbender tattoos.

"The ovals look better at first glance, but I think the circles work better with the overall theme." Baatar's heart stuttered on him a little. There it was; Huan's deeper timbre, that baritone that had surprised them all when Huan was thirteen. Huan had been gangly and bone-thin; their mother's willowy build, always hidden behind that hair of his. Not the type you'd think to have a voice like that. Baatar himself had gone through a period of his voice wildly cracking and breaking, much to his embarrassment and Kuvira's teasing. _No, don't go there, don't think about it._ Huan, though, he'd gone to bed a boyish tenor and had seemingly woken up the next morning with a voice that was smooth and rich. Well. It wasn't like much else had ever been easy for him, was it?

"Well, could you do both?" The woman again.

"That wouldn't look good at all. It's a terrible idea." Ah, Huan. Tactful as ever. The woman just laughed, though.

"That's why I stick to flying and not designing floors."

Baatar was sweating through his clothes - none of which were too clean in the first place. He unslung the pack on his back before shrugging himself out of his fur-lined coat, pulling off his hat and scarf as well.  He left them all lying against the wall of the tunnel.

The woman suddenly laughed again. "Do the floor in a checkerboard. That'll show them who's boss!"

Huan chuckled and Baatar could hardly believe what he had heard. Huan _chuckling?_ "Just like that? Never mind the rest of the temple? Just a checkerboard because why not?"

"We can call it Ikki's corridor. Checkerboard floors! The scandal of it all!" The woman was clearly amused.

"Windows that won't go where they are told."

"A roof that refuses to behave!"

Now Huan _laughed_. When had Baatar ever heard Huan laugh like that? The Huan he remembered was quiet, often sullen, hiding behind his hair, avoiding people. This Huan was _laughing_.

"The walls will be covered in light rainbows," said Huan, and even Baatar could hear the smile in his voice. "Stained glass windows that will spill rainbows everywhere when the sun is out. Everyone who walks there will be happy, and they won't even know why. But we'll know why. It's Ikki's corridor, that's why. Five hundred years from now, joyous airbenders dancing in rainbows. Euphoria. There's your legacy."

"Oh, Huan," the woman said, and then there was a silence. Baatar moved forward; it was a private moment, he should call ahead, he should give some warning, but he crept along quietly until he came around the last bend, hiding himself in the shadows.

Huan was there, sitting cross-legged on the floor. His long hair was pulled back, away from his face, secured into a bun. When was the last time Baatar had seen his face like that? Clear of hair, exposed to the light?  _He looks so much like Mom_ , he thought, shocked for a moment. Huan was smiling into the woman's face; she was sitting on his lap, her legs wrapped around him and he had his arms in turn wrapped around her waist.

"I'll build it," Huan said softly, and he looked at the woman - at Ikki - with such intensity that Baatar's throat ached. His awkward younger brother, the boy that people had called damaged behind their hands, the miserable boy that had been teased and tormented, silent and unhappy, was looking at a woman that way. And she was looking back at him, smiling, with such love that Baatar found himself feeling guilty for intruding on this moment. He started to back up into the corridor but at that moment Huan's head turned.

"Who's there?" he asked, and his eyes automatically closed as one of his hands pulled away from Ikki's waist to slap the rock below. 

The woman - Ikki - turned her head as well. "Hello? Yung? Is that you?"

Baatar wavered for a moment. His first instinct was to run, but that was stupid. Run where? Back out to the ledge, into the storm? And then where? Off the side of the mountain? He cleared his throat and forced himself to walk into the room.

Ikki stared at him for a moment, puzzled. Huan opened his eyes, saw Baatar and froze. "Oh," he said, and then suddenly the Huan that Baatar remembered was back. Huan's arm slipped away from Ikki's waist and he put both hands to his head. "Oh," he said, his eyes starting to blink wildly and his breath starting to come faster. He started to shake his head. "Oh. Oh. It's...oh. Not now. No, no."

"Huan? Huan!" Ikki slid off of his lap and backed up slightly. "Huan, can you talk to me?"

Huan shook his head violently and started to rock back and forth. He moaned and pressed his face to his thighs.

"Okay," she said. "Okay, honey. It's going to be okay." She glanced over at Baatar. "Please stay right there." She sprang up, her breasts shifting. Her wingsuit was rolled down to her waist, her breasts barely contained by a bra. It had been a long time since Baatar had seen breasts. He tried not to stare. Her breasts were far more generous than Kuvira's had been, full and rounded where Kuvira's had been... _No, stop that._ He dropped his eyes.

Ikki walked quickly to the bed that was placed in one corner of the cavern and took a blanket from the top of it. Walking back over to Huan, she enveloped him in the blanket, careful not to touch him with her hands. He slumped down to the floor under the blanket. "I'll be here if you need me," she said quietly, and it was only then that she turned her attention to Baatar. She motioned him in and pointed to the opposite side of cavern, near another doorway. She put her finger to her lips. He followed her, trying not to stare at her. He must have failed, though, because she took a pair of ornate bracelets off her wrists and pulled her wingsuit back up, zipping it to her chin before putting the bracelets back on.

"We can speak, so long as we do it quietly," she said, keeping her voice hushed. "He just needs some peace and quiet right now to get ahold of himself." She looked Baatar up and down. "So. We finally meet. I'm Ikki, although I'm assuming you know that by now. People are looking for you, by the way. Your parents are frantic."

Baatar shrugged. His eyes went back to Huan, a huddled shape on the floor under the blanket. "Is he..."

"He's fine. He's upset and he needs to do what he's doing right now," Ikki said firmly. "He just needs some time alone to pull himself together. He's had a frustrating week and you showing up unannounced was obviously the straw that broke the camelelephant's back." She sighed. "You of all people should know he finds sudden big surprises like this difficult. It would have been better if you had let us know."

Baatar shrugged again. Ikki stared at him for a long time, saying nothing. Finally he scoffed. "What? Are you going to threaten to throw me off the mountain for being an asshole?"

"I'm an airbender. We don't throw people off of anything," she replied, refusing to take the bait. "Although I will have Yung and Spike escort you back to the village if you are disruptive up here. No, I was just thinking that you should really take a bath. You're fragrant, and not in a good way. Come on." She walked through the doorway, pointing to a hallway that curved to her left. "Blue, my air bison, is that way," she said, and walked to the right, into a bathroom. "It's not luxurious or anything, but we have running water. No hot water in the pipes yet, but we usually keep that tank hot." She pointed to a large metal tank. "Hot water in that one, you can use the buckets to fill the tub. The cold water runs into the tub as well. Soap is there," she pointed, "And towels are there as well." She gave him a look. "I don't think anything of Huan's will fit you, but you can at least put his robe on. I can borrow something later from one of the builders until...well. I was going to say until we can wash those clothes, but I'm not sure if we want to bother. Maybe we should just call them a loss and get you new ones."

Baatar stared at her. "What makes you think I am going to stay long enough for that?"

She looked at him. Her gaze was clear and direct, her gray eyes calm. "You've come thousands of miles to get here. It's not like there's a road you could drive on or a train that would get you here. You didn't come all this way just to stop by and say hello for five minutes. Not to mention, where else would you go? Zaofu? Republic City? Ba Sing Se? You and I both know better."

Baatar scoffed. He felt tears prick at the edges of his eyes and shook them off with a sneer.

Ikki continued. "I know Huan sent you those plans for the fountain; who do you think packaged them and made sure they were mailed?" She sighed. "Am I happy you're here? Not really, no. I think it is going to upset Huan terribly and the spirits themselves only know what some of our workers will think about having Baatar Beifong here and your mother will invariably hear about it and descend on this mountain and I know I don't have to tell _you_ what kind of a fuss that will be. And, let's face it, you've been nothing but surly and rude from the moment you walked in. That being said, your brother loves you, and he desperately wants to make things right with you. So for his sake, there's the damn soap. Make good use of it. Hair and beard too, while you're at it. When you're done, come back in and I'll give you some stew. It's vegetarian, but it's pretty good, and we've got fresh bread as well. I'll make some tea, too. Hopefully by that time Huan will feel ready to come out of the blanket."

He stared at her. He didn't know what to say.

She waited for a moment and then nodded. "Right." She walked towards the door before stopping and turning around again. "You should know that your brother told me what happened the night you and Kuvira took Zaofu."

Baatar flinched. "So I suppose you think I'm scum now, huh? Worse than you already thought?"

"I think that you're a very complicated man, yes. I also think that you need to talk to your brother. He blames himself, you know."

Baatar stared at her, incredulous. "What? How the fuck could he blame _himself_?"

Ikki never took her eyes away from his. "Because he thinks that if he had used his bending against Kuvira she wouldn't have continued to hurt you."

Baatar sagged against the wall. "But...none of that was his fault. He wasn't responsible for any of that. If he had tried she would have had half of her army on top of him, that's what she wanted anyhow, any excuse. As it was..." he swallowed and closed his eyes, "...as it was, she probably would have killed him that night. If he had given her any resistance at all, she would have. If I hadn't walked in when I did..." He put a shaky hand to his temple.

"I understand that. Well. I don't understand why Kuvira was the way she was, but I mean that I understand that the both of you did the best that you could that night. You and Huan, I mean. But Huan, no matter how many times I try to tell him this, he won't believe it. He needs to hear it from you. Not tonight - spirits! Not tonight! But soon. _You_ need to tell him that. You owe him that."

Baatar nodded. "I know. It's been...it's been weighing on me for ten years now. I know I do." He looked back over at Ikki. "Look, I'm not a nice man. I know this. I'm not a good man, either. I don't even know what that means any more, not really. I don't blame you for disliking me. Most people do. I get that you probably don't want me here. But I want to build him that fountain. I need to do it. I _need_ to."

"I know you do," she said. "And he needs you to do it as well." She gave him a little smile, slightly sardonic. "Just try not to be an utter prick about it, okay? You can stay up here with us tonight, the storm's picking up, I can feel it, and there's no point in any of us going back out into it to try and find you somewhere else to sleep. Just scrub yourself and come in and have some dinner, and please, try to take it easy on your brother tonight. As it is he'll probably drink some tea and go straight to bed, when this happens to him it exhausts him. We can talk it over in the morning." She walked out through the open doorway. "Welcome to the Northern Air Temple, Baatar," came her voice from the hallway, and then she was gone.

He stood there for a few moments. He _wasn't_ a nice man. He knew this. He would probably fuck things up here. Destroy the peace and happiness his brother had clearly found with that woman in this place. He should walk away now, go back to the village, keep walking. He could change his name, go somewhere where no one would recognize him. He had useful skills, he could easily make his way. Make himself into a new person, leave it all behind him. It would be the right thing to do, even if Huan might not understand it. He felt pretty sure Ikki would understand it, though. She would, at least.

He should do it. He should go. He should just keep going until Baatar Beifong, Junior was no more. He should just cut his ties, leave all of the pain and disappointment and hurt and rage behind. Become someone new. New and better. Clean. Whole.

He reached for the soap and clutched it into his hands before sliding down the wall to the floor.

For the first time in ten years, Baatar wept.


	7. A Painful Laceration: Ikki Cuts Her Finger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Archiving a prompt meme from Tumblr.
> 
> Ikki and Baatar: Patching up a wound.

“What happened?”

Ikki glanced up to see Baatar frowning down at her. “Oh, stupid of me. I was trying to slice some onions and I got myself with the knife.”

“Let me take a look.” 

“It’s fine. You don’t need to bother. Seriously. No big deal.” That’s all she needed, Baatar yanking her finger about, yelling at her for being careless. He ignored her protests, however, sitting down next to her and gently taking her hand in his, peering at her finger. 

“This looks fairly deep, although it’s hard to tell with all the bleeding. We need that to stop. Hang on a minute.” He got up and rummaged in a drawer until he’d found a clean towel. Coming back he wrapped Ikki’s finger in it and pressed down on the wound. “You need to put pressure on it and elevate it over your heart, that’s what will stop the bleeding.” He raised her finger up and held it there. “Once the bleeding has stopped I’ll see if it needs to be sewn up. Otherwise we’ll disinfect it and bandage it.”

Ikki eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know?”

He shrugged. “My mother had this special after school program for all the bending kids. Mostly earthbenders, of course. Anyhow, they’d get official training in the forms and everything, she hired special teachers for it. It left the non-benders with nothing to do after school, though. So she put together this sort of scouting program. The rest of us - the non-benders, I mean - we’d go out and learn how to do practical things, like start fires and tie knots and sail boats, that kind of thing. One of the things we learned was how to deal with basic wounds.” He gave that little half smile of his, an upwards quirk of his mouth. “Opal can build an excellent campfire in no time flat, believe it or not.”

“So how are you with campfires?” She was curious, despite herself.

“I manage. I always liked the knot tying part. My Dad got me a book that had diagrams of all of these various types of knots, I used to practice for hours. Still do it, even now. If I’m stuck on an idea or a problem and I can’t get it right, I just tie knots for awhile, distract myself. It allows my brain to figure things out. Don’t know why, but it works.”

“Huh,” Ikki said. She’d never known that about him. “So Huan went to that after school program? The bending one?”

Baatar shook his head, and then carefully unwound the towel, looking closely at her wound. “Bleeding’s stopped, we need to clean it.” He put his hand to her elbow and guided her to the sink, rinsing off her finger with plenty of clean water and soap. He sat her back down and fetched the First Aid kit. “Huan barely managed school. He had a really tough time, the other kids were little shits to him and the teachers weren’t much better. No, when he trained he trained with my grandmother. The twins trained with my mother, for the most part. Sometimes they’d go with the other kids to the after school program, depending on whether or not my mother could spare the time. But mostly they trained with her.” He had been threading a needle with strong black cotton thread. “Okay, I’m going to need to give it a few stitches. It’s going to hurt, no getting around it.”

“Okay,” she said, frowning a bit. He took her finger up and continued speaking while he stitched.

“So this one time the scouts - we were called Zaofu Scouts, there were ranks and badges and things you could earn, very official and everything - we were going on a three day camping trip outside of the city. The twins were pissed off because they wanted to go. Wei threw a fit, and by threw a fit I mean he bent up half the courtyard, I thought my mother was going to kill him. Anyhow, my mother, she was smart enough to say no. She was not flexible on that for anyone, the Scouts were for non-benders only, it was the one thing we didn’t have to give way to the benders over, you know? So anyhow, Opal was maybe about ten or so and it was her first long overnighter. My parents told me I was to keep an eye on her. Which wasn’t a problem, I loved Opal. She was a great kid. Tops at being a baby sister.” 

Ikki winced a little as the needle started to pull her flesh together. 

“When it came time to start the campfire, Opal was ready. She’d been practicing with flint and steel at home, she was going to try for her campfire building badge. She gathered together all the wood, stacked it up perfectly, had it all safely inside a fire ring she’d built. She started it up and it took right away. Perfect campfire. I remember her face, she was so proud of herself, so happy. And then this other kid - Won, he was a real little shit, used to pick on Huan as well - he dumped a big bucket of water right on it, immediately put it out. Opal started crying, the Scoutmaster yelled at him, like Won gave a shit. Of course they gave Opal her badge, but he’d ruined it for her, you know?”

“Oh, poor Opal.”

“Yeah, she was heartbroken. So anyhow, it’s not like I was going to beat the shit out of that kid or anything, I was a ninety pound weakling back in those days. So instead I waited until it was dark and everyone was sleeping and I snuck out and drove one of the jeeps we’d all come in back home - I wasn’t a great driver or anything but my Dad let me drive around with him on the back roads. In retrospect I’m lucky I didn’t wreck the damn thing, I was only about fourteen. So anyhow, I went back to the house and I got the twins up, told them I needed them for Operation Opal’s Revenge. They immediately came with me, they didn’t even get dressed. Did the whole thing in their pajamas. So I got us back there and I told them exactly what it was I needed them to do, and they bent Won’s entire tent up a tree. Took it up there with an earth ledge and then smoothed it back down like it had never happened. Well. They always were amazing benders, especially when they worked together. Everybody slept through it, including Won, that’s how quiet and gentle they were. After they were done I drove them back, swore them to secrecy. They thought it was the best thing ever, shit, they were funny little kids. I drove back, parked the jeep exactly how I’d found it, went into my own tent and got a few hours of sleep.”

“So he woke up in the tree in the morning?” Ikki started laughing.

“Scared him so bad he started screaming, pissed his pants.” Baatar gave an actual chuckle. “And they couldn’t figure out who had done it! There weren’t any benders along! I always wondered if the Scoutmaster suspected me, but if she did, she sure as hell never said anything about it.” He tied off the bandage. “Okay, you’re all set. You probably would have been fine without the stitches but better safe than sorry. Keep it clean and dry. If you do get it wet come and find me and I’ll put a clean dressing on it. Even if you don’t I had better check it tomorrow morning and I’ll put a clean dressing on it then.”

Ikki stared at her finger, neatly bandaged up. “I didn’t even notice you doing it.”

“Yeah, a little distraction never hurt anyone. Guess how many times I had to bandage the twins up? If you didn’t keep Wei distracted he’d scream bloody murder. And let’s not even discuss Huan. In any case, I need to get going, Mauja’s probably wondering where the hell I am. I’ll see you later.” He got up, putting the First Aid kit back in its place on his way out of the kitchen.

“Well, then,” said Ikki to the empty room. “That was unexpected.”


	8. A Whirlwind Of Revelation: If I've Gone Overboard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set about six months after Baatar Junior arrives at the Northern Air Temple.
> 
> Huan goes on a trip. Ikki and Baatar have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so many requests to continue with this particular story/plot line that I have actually gone ahead and started to write a full length piece about it. You can still read this drabble, of course; however, it has been tweaked a bit and is now Chapter One of I Do Not Ask the Night for Explanations.

"Are you sure?" Ikki tucked a wayward lock into the bandanna she was using to keep her hair back. It was windy out on the ledge by the dormitories.

Huan nodded. "Last time they brought the wrong things back." His eyes slid sideways to Yung, who was checking the buckles on Spike's saddle straps. Yung shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know a gosh darn thing about art one way or the other, sorry to say. Here, Spike, move over a little bit, I can't fit between you and the mountain!"

"You don't know Ba Sing Se at all but Yung grew up there. It makes more sense to go with him. And with Chol." Chol was the foreman that Baatar Senior had sent from Zaofu to oversee their project. He had worked for the Beifong family for nearly twenty-five years and didn't stand on ceremony with any of them, Baatar Junior included. Huan shifted his small pack on his back and jabbed his toe into the rock. "It will be okay. I don't like the city but it won't kill me or anything. Also, I like Spike." He thumped Spike and got a friendly bellow in return. "He won't make me too sick, right Spike?"

"Okay, last call here. Add it to my list or forever hold your peace." Chol dumped his own pack next to Spike. "So you've got everything you need, right Huan?" At Huan's nod he took a pencil from behind his ear and scribbled something down. "I'm estimating it will take us five days round trip once we get all of the supplies up and loaded, that sort of thing. If I think we're going to be any longer than that I'll radio, but here's hoping we'll be in and out without much fuss. Junior! You've got those measurements for me?"

Baatar came out from an entrance cut out into the mountain. "Right here." He handed over a piece of paper. Ikki knew he loathed being referred to as Junior; however, he put up with it from Chol. No one else could get away with it, though. The six months that Baatar had been living at the temple had made some improvement, at least; he'd put on some much needed weight and Huan had cut his hair short again. He'd shaved off his beard, too, which improved his looks tenfold as far as Ikki was concerned. (It also brought out his resemblance to Huan.) His much mended eyeglasses had finally been replaced, thanks to a traveling oculist in the local village that Ikki - with some backup from Chol - had bullied him into going to see. There was some early gray at his temples, but he wore it well. Ikki had noticed several of the women in the village giving him speculative looks whenever they took a trip down the mountain.

His attitude hadn't really changed all that much, however. He was still surly, sullen and generally fairly unpleasant to be around. Ikki spent a good portion of her day gritting her teeth and putting up with him because Huan was glad to have him there. She'd put up with a lot to see Huan happy, even if it meant Baatar skulking around their ledge, mouthing off with his sarcastic comments.

Chol took Baatar's list. "Hydroponics is what they're calling them, eh? Well, if anyone was going to figure it out it was going to be you. It works, you say?"

Baatar nodded. "I've been reading about them. It would solve some of our food problems until we can get a decent greenhouse built. I think I can improve on the basic design."

"Growing food inside a mountain. Now I've heard everything. Well, I always knew you were the smartest of all the Beifongs. No offense, Huan."

"No offense taken," said Huan. He had moved over to stand next to Ikki. "It's true." He rested his cheek against the top of her head. "I'll miss you."

She wrapped her arms around him. "Right back at you." She squeezed. "You'll make your cousins welcome, right?"

"They technically aren't my cousins. They are related to Aunt Lin but not us."

Ikki waved this off. "Close enough. I'm just glad they're coming." She refrained from mentioning the workers who had left when Baatar had shown up, refusing to work with him. They'd lost five of their workers over his sudden appearance - two of them metalbenders - and Ikki hadn't known what to do to replace them. Not that Baatar had acknowledged it, of course, never mind given anyone an apology. She and Chol had discussed trying to advertise in some of the bigger cities when a letter had arrived two months ago from Lin Beifong telling them that her nephew on her paternal side, Kwan, was interested in joining them up north. He'd worked as a metalbender for the Ba Sing Se Public Works for over ten years; Ikki knew they were damn lucky to get him. Coming along with him was his cousin Bora, an earthbender and someone that Lin had described as "a fairly decent cook." High praise, from Lin. Ikki was really hoping she knew some vegetarian recipes; she wasn't much of a cook herself and was heartily tired of eating the same two or three dishes she could reliably make. 

"Okay, let's load him up," said Yung, and Chol obligingly bent a set of rock steps leading up to Spike's saddle. Since Chol was going to be gone they'd given all of the workers a well-deserved holiday; most of the workers had decided to hitch a ride with Yung down to the nearest village, where a summer festival was being held. Two of their workers were going along to Ba Sing Se as well, leaving a bare handful of people on the mountain. Ikki was looking forward to a little peace and quiet. 

Ikki kissed Huan. "Be good. Have some fun! I'll see you when you get back. You have your sour plum balls for your stomach?" Huan brandished a striped candy bag at her and then surprised her with a long and sweet kiss of his own before climbing up to Spike's saddle. Ikki waved as Spike took off, his saddle crammed full of workers, leaving her alone on the ledge. She made her way into the mountain, taking the stairs that Chol had quickly bent out of the rock to connect the dormitories to the ledge that she and Huan had first settled on when they had arrived the previous year. She walked past Blueberry, laying in her cave. Blue swung her head around to grunt plaintively at Ikki.

"Don't look at me like that! We'll go out tomorrow, what do you say, girl? I just want to get a few things done here, okay? Tomorrow we'll go for a nice long fly, maybe stop off at the village for a visit. Sound good?" She had plans for the day, which included a long hot bath, a pumicing of her feet and a nap. Possibly a letter to Rohan if she felt up to it. None of those plans involved thinking about the building of the Northern Air Temple. Not a single one of them. Blue smelled the moon peaches Ikki had brought for her and rumbled her pleasure. Ikki handed them over with an affectionate slap before continuing on to the large room she and Huan shared.

Baatar was in their room, sitting at the desk Huan had pulled out of the rock. Ikki fought back a huff of annoyance. He had his own room down in the dormitories where the single workers lived. He rarely stayed there, though. He always seemed to be underfoot and Ikki could not, for the life of her, understand why. He talked to Huan, of course, but his interactions with Ikki were cursory at best. Which was an improvement over his interactions with the rest of the staff. He was curt with everyone but Chol. Ikki couldn't fault him for not working hard - Baatar worked very hard, and while Ikki didn't know a thing about engineering even she could see that he was making useful improvements left and right - but she wished he'd glower at everything somewhere else for a change.

"Consider yourself warned. I'm going to take a hot bath and a nap." She untied the bandanna from around her head. Her wingsuit was in dire need of a wash, but she'd just put on some of her airbender robes and call it a day. She had put in an order from Asami to get several replacement suits for Yung as well as herself; Asami was going to send them along to Ba Sing Se and Yung was to pick them up.

"Whatever," Baatar muttered, not looking up from his papers.

Ikki sat down on the bed to yank her boots off. "Why didn't you go down to the village with everyone else?"

"I'm busy," he said, not looking up. "And rustics dancing around drinking fermented buffalo yak milk is not my idea of a good time."

 _You wouldn't know a good time if it reared up and bit you on the ass_ , thought Ikki, but she attempted to keep her cool and channel her Inner Jinora. "Well, I'm going to head down tomorrow, so if you want a ride let me know."

He didn't answer. Ikki suppressed a sigh. Huan and Baatar were different in so many ways, but they both got caught up their work. Baatar responded to interruptions with as little grace and patience as Huan; his social skills weren't the best either, although Ikki wasn't sure how much of that was deliberate. Huan simply didn't comprehend how other people operated; Baatar didn't seem to care.

She was grateful for the improvements he'd made in bathroom, though. He'd done that on his second day on the mountain; she'd woken up to find him in there with a look of fierce concentration on his face, wearing Huan's robe and using tools he'd found Raava knew where, snapping at Ikki when she asked him what on earth he was doing. They now had hot water running directly into the tub as well as cold. Ikki adjusted the water temperature and left the tub to fill while she put a kettle on for tea.

"Do you want some tea?" she asked. Baatar grunted in response. Could he not answer with a simple yes or no? She checked on her bathwater and then poured out two cups, putting one on the desk in front of him. As per usual, he didn't acknowledge it or thank her. Huan might not always understand other people but he at least had decent manners. She took her own tea into the bathroom, quickly peeling off her wingsuit and stepping into the tub. The water was slightly too hot, just how she liked it. She took a swallow of her tea and closed her eyes.

"So are you planning to meet up with that man in the village?" Baatar spoke up from the other room.

Ikki opened her eyes. "Pardon?"

"The man who lives near the marketplace. You planning on meeting him?"

So much for a relaxing hot bath. "Not that it is any of your business - because it _isn't_ \- but if you are trying to ask in a non-direct way if I am having some sort of an affair with him, then the answer is that yes, I sometimes have sex with him."

There was a silence. Ikki drank some of her tea and sunk a little deeper into the water.

"So that's your entire answer?"

Nope. She was feeling the exact opposite of relaxed now. The air in the bathroom started to slowly move.

"In the first place, I don't owe you an answer of any kind. If you're worried about your brother's feelings then ask him. But just so you know, he is aware of what's going on and he's fine with it. It's part of how our relationship works."

"So you just fuck whomever and he's supposed to be happy about it?" She couldn't see him in the other room but his voice was tight.

"Huan and I have an open relationship. It works for us, and it's nobody's business but our own."

"I don't see him sleeping around."

Ikki attempted calm. "You should have this conversation with him. He does speak for himself, you know." The air current in the bathroom picked up just slightly.

"I'm having it with _you_."

"I guess it's just my lucky day, then. Look. Your brother doesn't have a very high sex drive. I do. He's not interested in having sex with other people. If he was, I'd be fine with that."

"Would you?"

Ikki didn't answer. It was too complicated to explain to people. Huan only had sex when he had a deep connection with someone. Sex was a part of love for him, unlike how it was for her. If he was having sex with someone, it meant he loved that person, and while Ikki wouldn't care if he was having no-strings sex, she would be devastated if he fell in love with someone else. Well, the point was moot. It was pretty unlikely to be an issue, now or in the future. She'd cross that bridge if she came to it.

"Do you love my brother?"

That Ikki could answer. "Yes. Oh yes. More than I thought I could ever love anybody."

"But you still cheat on him."

Ikki could feel her temper rising along with a few gusts of wind. Her Inner Jinora was beginning to crumble. "I am not _cheating_ on him. We have discussed this, at length, and we are both fine with it. I don't sneak around behind his back. I would never bring anyone home. I don't have an emotional relationship with Gen, although I am fond of him. Sex and love don't necessarily go hand in hand for everyone, you know." The towels started to flutter a bit.

"I know." 

She guessed he might, at that. "Look at it this way. I'm a vegetarian, right? But Huan isn't. I would never try to deny him whatever it is he wants to eat. Why should he have to change what he eats and enjoys simply because of my own beliefs? Your brother loves me, and yes, we do have sex, but not as often as I would like. That's just who he is. I accept him for that and I love him. He accepts that my sexual needs are different than his own and he loves me. There's no need for either one of us to change ourselves in order to accommodate the other one in bed. I'm discreet, I don't have emotional relationships with the people I am having sex with. I never use it as a weapon against him. I'm happy because I'm being sexually fulfilled and he's happy because he's also being sexually fulfilled in his own way." Ikki sat up in the tub. "All of these ridiculous notions of long-term forced monogamy aside - and I have never understood it, _never_ \- Huan and I are _happy_. What difference does it make to anyone else what we do to get to that place of happiness? We might be breaking tradition, but we aren't breaking any laws. We aren't breaking any hearts, either." She lay back down. "And now, if you don't mind, I am going to finish my tea and take the relaxing bath I came in here to do." One of the towels flew off of its hook. She glared at it before attempting inner calm.

She sucked at inner calm.

Baatar was silent.

For a time.

"I guess I just don't understand how you can fuck someone you don't love. Because that's what you're doing, right? Fucking?"

Her Inner Jinora winked out of existence completely as the wind picked up. "I really don't give a damn if you understand or not! It's not your business! I'm finished with this conversation! In fact, I am finished with you today. Get out of my room." Her tea cup abruptly flew off of the counter and shattered on the floor. "Shit! Shit!" 

"Are you okay?"

She took several deep breaths, trying to settle both herself and the air in the bathroom down. She was losing control like she was a toddler. What was wrong with her? She knew better than to let him get to her that way. "I'm fine. I broke my cup. It doesn't matter. Look. Please talk to your brother about this, okay? I get that you love him and you care about him and don't want him to get hurt. I would feel the same way if it were one of my siblings. But he's the one you need to talk to."

"I've already talked to him about it."

Ikki's fingers clenched around the edge of the tub. "Then why are you bringing it up with _me_?" She was going to kill him, oath of non-violence be damned. The wind, which had started to settle down, picked up again.

He didn't answer. Ikki pulled herself out of the water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself before stomping back into the main room, just managing to avoid a shard of broken crockery in her foot. Baatar was sitting at the desk still, tea sitting untouched.

"What is your damage? Seriously! I don't get you, I really don't. You come here unannounced, break up the peace of this mountain. We lost five workers because of you and your past, and you've never even apologized! You're rude and surly to everyone. You're clearly unhappy here. So why stay? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all you've done, but frankly I'd rather hire someone less gifted than you with a better attitude. I get that you've have a bad time the past years-"

"You don't get that at all." That got him to look up from the desk. His eyes were furious behind their lenses. "Don't pretend you know what I went through."

Ikki threw a hand out, and his clothes fluttered. "I never said I knew what you went through. I just acknowledged that things were difficult for you. Spirits, Baatar! You aren't the be-all end-all of human suffering, you know! It's probably too much to ask for you to be pleasant, but could you at least try for civility? Shit! You'd think you were the only person in this world to ever shed a tear. There are plenty of people out there who have suffered through no fault of their own. That Colossus was your fault!" 

"I'm well aware of that," he snarled, lunging out of his seat. "I don't need to be lectured by a little girl with Daddy issues."

"Says the man with such Mommy issues that he got into bed with a dictator to show her up!"

"Don't bring my mother into this!"

"And I told you to get out of my room. Get out of my room!" 

"So my brother leaves and you'll just go there and fuck your way through that village?" He grabbed at the bracelet on her left wrist and she struggled to keep the towel up.

"You talked to him! If you talked to him then I _know_ he told you he was fine with it! So why do you care? What's it to you, anyhow? Oh! You make me so damn angry!" She closed her eyes in order to get control of herself; the wind was moving freely around the room now, and she needed to make it stop. She took a deep belly breath and felt her towel sag down.

Fingers brushed across the top of her exposed breasts. Her eyes flew open to see Baatar looking at her with such naked and desperate need that she impulsively put her palm to his chest. "Oh. _Oh_." Oh, for the love of Raava. _That's_ why he was asking. Oh spirits, how had she not figured it out? "Baatar," she said, helplessly, and then his mouth was on hers, fierce and hot. It was good. It was so good. He kissed her like a man desperate for life, and the part of her mind that could still process thought figured he probably was. She'd been kissed plenty of times but never like this. His mouth was bruising hers and for a wild moment she actually considered dropping her towel. Sense took over, however, and she pushed back at his chest and tore her lips away from his. "No. No. Not angry sex, not like this. I don't do that. Not angry like this, I don't like it."

 _Liar_ , her body said, but she knew she couldn't. Not with him. She took a deliberate step back and swallowed, hitching her towel back up. "I told you. Outside of your brother I don't do emotional attachments. Are you trying to tell me you aren't feeling emotionally attached right now? Because _I'm_ feeling pretty emotionally attached. And _that_ would be cheating on your brother." Oh spirits, she wanted to. She wanted him to throw her back against the wall and fuck her until she couldn't see straight, until she couldn't remember her name and wouldn't even care. But he wasn't someone just passing through. He was Huan's _brother_ , for the love of Raava. And she didn't even like him all that much. She took another step back. "Look, I get that it's been awhile for you. Maybe you should take a trip to the village, take the edge off. Xiu that works at the bakery is always up for a good time, and I've seen her giving you the eye. She's a lot of fun, no strings attached, I speak from experience." His own eyes widened and she mentally slapped herself. _Not the time to bring_ _that up, you idiot_ , she chided herself.

"I don't go around fucking people," he said, his voice cold. "I don't do that."

Ikki tried to process this. "But you and Kuvira..."

He took in a ragged breath. "I loved her." He looked away. "She's been the only one. You know."

Oh _spirits_. Oh, what a mess. Despite herself she felt sorry for him. "Oh, Baatar..."

"Don't you do that. Don't you feel sorry for me. Just... _don't_. I don't need anyone's pity. Bad enough I have to put up with it from Huan. I'm not putting up with it from you."

"Look, Baatar, I don't know if you think you have feelings for me-"

"Oh, so now you're telling me what my feelings are?"

"No! Of course I'm not!" She stopped herself. "Well. I guess I was. I'm sorry. Truly." She backed up until she sat down on the bed, making sure her towel was secure. "I just...you should find someone else. Someone who is not already in a relationship with your brother, for one thing. Someone who would treat you with all of the care you deserve. And you do deserve it."

Baatar scoffed. "Oh, so it's just as easy as that, is it?" He folded his arms across his chest. "Just run right out and find someone else to fall in love with!"

"You're not in love with me!"

Baatar stared at her. Little things began to click into place for her. The way that Baatar always went out of his way to fix or improve things around her room for her. How he'd always bring her up food she could eat from the village when he made trips there. All of the time he spent doing his work in their room instead of his own. "But...you've never said anything about it."

"Not all of us talk as much as you do."

"Unbelievable. Are you actually trying to make a declaration of love by insulting me?"

He grimaced. "I didn't...I didn't mean it that way. Sometimes things come out of my mouth all wrong. I'm not very good at this kind of thing."

"Please don't take this the wrong way. But are you sure? You've been through a difficult time and I'm the nearest woman around..." she trailed off at the derisive look on his face.

"So now I'm so desperate for a fuck that I can't tell the difference between love and lust?"

"Does everything have to be a battle of words with you?"

He scoffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Usually, yeah."

"I'm not a fighter. In case you hadn't noticed. I don't get off on that whole dynamic. Maybe it was how things were with Kuvira -" that got a distinctly unhappy laugh out of him, "-but that's not who I am. I loathe conflict."

"So I've noticed."

She shrugged helplessly. "Well, there you have it. If that sort of angry dynamic is what you are looking for, you aren't going to get it from me." She leaned back for a moment. "So that's why you were being such a prick today? Foreplay? Listen, I'm not kidding. I don't like it. It stresses me out and does _not_ get me in the mood."

"Less about foreplay and more about go with what you know."

That actually got a laugh out of her, and he surprised her by grinning back at her. He _never_ smiled. He had that same cocky Beifong grin that she'd seen on his twin brothers. It transformed his face entirely. She wasn't sure a smiling Baatar was necessarily a good thing to have standing a meter away from her when she was just in a towel. No. Scratch that. She was _sure_ it wasn't.

He sat back down in the chair at the desk. "I'm an engineer. We fix things. Build things out of nothing. I'm not afraid of work. I'm not afraid to fail, either. Failure is just one step in success. I learn from my failures." He looked at her steadily. "I love my brother. I am not going to do anything to hurt him. I've hurt him enough already for a lifetime and more. But I'm not leaving. I'm not quitting. On him, on this place. On you. Today was a failure. Okay. Fine. I'll try again."

"Baatar! This is crazy. I don't even like you all that much. And can you blame me? You're not even nice to me! What makes you think I want you to try again?"

He moved out of the chair and was across the room before Ikki could think to move out of the way. He tugged her up, and heedless of her towel's inevitable descent, kissed her again. Oh spirits but he was a good kisser. She knew she should pull back again, keep her distance, be rational about this.

Fuck it. She hadn't been rational a single day in her life. Her body overrode her brain and she kissed him back, the towel caught between their bodies as she fisted her hands into his tunic. Finally, when he pulled away, they were both breathless. "That's how I know," he whispered into her ear. She clutched at the towel and belatedly tried to put it back into place.

Oh, the cocky cocky _bastard_.

He walked towards the door. "If you're going down the mountain tomorrow I'll go with you." He met her eyes. "I'm not Huan, by the way. I care about who you are fucking."

"That's going to be a problem, then," she said before she thought it through. _Stop it_ , she told herself.  _It's not a problem! You are not in a relationship with this man!_ "And what about your brother? Did you ever stop to think about how he would feel about this?"

"I talked to him about it last week. Why do you think he went to Ba Sing Se? You know how much he hates cities." With that he walked out the door.

Ikki opened her mouth. Nothing came out. She closed her mouth. She sat back down on the bed. Her mouth opened again, but there was still nothing.

"Enjoy your bath," came from down the hall, and she slowly leaned over to rest her forehead on her knees.

"I am in so much fucking trouble," she said softly, but there was no one there to answer her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this particular plot line in my head for a long time. It wasn't inspired by a song, but as I was writing it the song Crash Into Me by the Dave Matthews Band kept coming into my head. It fits, and that's where the title came from.


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